Guglielmo Marconi and Radioastronomy

Extract

The decision to hold this IAU Symposium at Bologna on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the wireless telegraphy represents in itself a recognition of the widespread feeling of a historical link between the great discovery of Guglielmo Marconi and the birth of radioastronomy. Obviously, it is not a direct link. We all well know that the birth of radioastronomy must be traced back to the year 1932 when Karl Jansky recognized for the first time the existence of a radio signal probably associated with a celestial source. This a classical example of a ‘serendipitous’ discovery made while Jansky was investigating for the Bell Telephone Laboratories the sources of radio interferences with a rotating antenna array operating at about 14 m wavelength. The study of local disturbances was of primary importance in the rapid development of radio communications which had been geared by the Marconi's discovery.